Announced in August 14 2020, the realme C12 was officially unveiled in Kenya on November 10th in an online double event together with the 8GB RAM realme7i.
The phone becomes the latest entrant in the realme C series; the budget range of Realme Smartphones. It comes with 3 GB RAM, 32 GB storage, a 6,000 mAh battery and is available in Corel Red, Marine Blue and Silver colors.
Immediately after the launch, the phone went live on Kilimall with a launch price of Ksh.12,999, with a later retail price of Ksh.14,999. On 16th November Realme Kenya had a flash sale for the device on Kilimall, and all the pieces sold out in less than 24 hours.
This was a strong indication that despite squarely placing itself in the most competitive sub 15 K market segment, the Realme C12 was enjoying a good reception. Wether this could be largely attributes to it's price or spec list is something we will answer in this post, and as we're going to look closely at the Realme C12 Pros and cons, while comparing it with it's closest rivals including the recently launched Infinix Hot 10, the Nokia 2.4, Tecno Spark 3 pro among other smartphones within the same price range.
Realme C12 Pros and cons.
- Network: 2G, 3G,4G LTE.
- Launched:. August 2020
- Dimensions: 164.5 x 75.9 x 9.8 mm.
- Weight: 209 g.
- Screen size: 6.5 inch.
- Display type: IPS LCD
- Resolution: 720 x 1560 pixels
- Pixel density: 264 ppi.
- Aspect ratio: 19.5:9
- Screen to body: 84.8%.
- OS: Android 10; Realme UI.
- Processor: Helio G35 (12 nm)
- RAM: 3 GB.
- Storage: 32 GB expandable
- Cameras: Triple, 13MP + 2 MP + 2 MP
- Video: 1080p@30fps.
- Selfie Camera: 5 MP with LED flash.
- Battery: Non removable Li-po 6,000 mAh with fast charge 10 W.
- Sensors: proximity, light sensor, Accelerometer, Compass, NFC.
- Fingerprint: Rear mounted.
Realme C12 Pros
Let's kick off with the most noticeable features if this phone, those we fell Realme have done us proud, those that are hard to come by at under 15 K.
1. Lovely design with fingerprint and scratch resistance.
One of the reasons that has seen realmegrow so fast is their good looking smartphones, and the C12 takes that a step further. Forget those cheap Chinese looking smartphones and get a chance to hold a nicely crafted phone with good premium look that can only be compared with Nokia branded smartphones. I must confess that even Infinix and Xiaomi phones don't come close to this phone in terms of the design and the quality finish.
With a bold square camera design, a mini-drop display and an attractive geometric design, the C12 is a good piece of hardware that looks many times expensive than it actually is.
The instant fingerprint sensor and the realme logo placed at the bottom left completes that overall back design, with an option to choose your favorite color from the list available.
While the company maintained it's matte finish for an excellent hand feel and improved grip, what stands out is it's resistance to fingerprints and scratches. So you won't have to wory about your phone looking old that fast. While we couldn't exactly confirm the IP rating of this phone, the company claims that it's water resistant, maybe because they used a water resistant coating. Otherwise we advice you be extra careful with your device, and don't bring it anywhere close to water, just like any other electronic device be it IP rated or not.
2. Massive 6,000 mAh battery with reverse charge.
While this might not be the only selling spec of this phone, it is the most important in the list. The Realme C12 becomes the first phone to feature a massive 6,000 mAh battery in it's price range. The closer that any of the Competitors can come is 5,200 mAh of the Infinix Hot 10. Others have a 5,000 mAh battery or less including the realme C3.
With such amount if battery juice you can have 46 hours of non stop calls, 69 hours Spotify, 28 hours YouTube or 27 hours,G maps or 57 days standby. There's also an ibuikt AI Super power Saving mode that can give you 107 minutes of WhatsApp with just 5% power. What it does is that it shuts all apps leaving you with 6 commonly used apps.
We would not move to the next feature before we mention the reverse charging that literary turns your battery into a power bank allowing you to charge other devices. One downside of such a big battery is it's charging duration, which could take you upto almost 10 hours to achieve full charge. Thankfully realme gave us a 10W fast charger, though it would have been much better if we had seen 18 W fast charge support in this device. Hopefully realme will add this in it's successor.
3. Excellent Cameras.
Many of the C12 competitors including the Tecno Spark 3 Pro, Infinix Note 7 and many others have a quad camera setup. The Realme C12 on it's part comes with a triple camera arrangement, with a 13 MP primary camera, the same as the Nokia 2.4.
But wait until you try it out, you will be amazed at the C12 Camera performance. Of course it won't compare with industry leaders like the Nokia Pureview or the Mid-rangers like the Tecno Camon 16 Premier, but it's pictures are quite good for a phone at such a price range. In a good Lighting condition, the photos appear pretty sharp with vibrant colors and detail. They resemble those of high end smartphones, and you will love their look on your social media. It also gives a good performance in low light and it's super Nightscape capture pure and bright pictures even in low light.
The single 5 MP AI selfie camera also has a good performance and with portrait mode and other AI features including AI beuty you can take a variety of selfies depending on. your taste.
4. Good User interface(UI).
The realme C12 is not an Android one certified phone like Nokia, and it runs on realme UI 1.0 based on Android 10. Just like Infinix XOS or Tecno's HIOS, we would expect a number of pre-installed bloatware that come with multiple ads that ruins your user experience. Surprisingly, the phone comes with a very clean Android version that rivals any Android one phone. This is a huge effort by realme and is highly commendable.
Realme C12 cons
While the Realme C12 has a good spec list for it's price and stays atop of it's competition, there are still some issues we feel the company should have done alitle better:
1. The processor.
Just like it's siblings the realme C3 and the C15, this phone is powered by the Mediatek Helio G35, a budget gaming Chipset with a top clock speed of 2.3 GHz. While this is much better than the Helio P22 and the Helio A25 that are common at this price point, some of it's close competition have better Chipsets, with both the Infinix Hot 10 and the Note 7 Lite featuring a better Helio G70 processor.
While the realme C12 performs well in it's day to day activities and handles light gaming very well, you might notice some lag when multitasking or handling heavy tasks a reminder that this Chipset was not the best choice for this phone.
2. The rear mounted fingerprint sensor.
Though many don't really use the fingerprint scanner it would have been more reassuring if realme had settled for a side mounted fingerprint sensor, just like in the Note 7 Lite. This would have increased the competitive advantage of the device.
Should you buy the realme C12?
Considering the amount of competition that's out there, it is almost impossible to get a phone that ticks all the right boxes. Many phones in this segment have an HD+ resolution and are well above 6.5 inches, all IPS LCD.
Also almost all of them have a big battery of 5,000 mAh, so the battery is not much of a deciding factor here, but if you can get one with 18 W fast charge it would be much better.
Thatt leaves the Chipset as the major deciding factor, and here we're choosing between the Mediatek Helio G70, the Helio G35, the Helio A25 and the Helio P22. If we were to till out brands, then the G70 would be the best in the list, but the bloatware that comes with Infinix and Tecno phones turns off many people, that's why this phone becomes the best alternative.
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